Ni5: Perspectives

This is where we offer some of our thoughts and perspectives to you. We won't promise they're better than anyone else's. Or even right. But we'll at least provide interesting ways of looking at things.

Combined with the information we provide in the other parts of this site, we hope to encourage interesting and meaningful conversations about things that affect you.

DID YOU JUST LEARN SOMETHING?
Is it worth a dollar?

News in FiVe is free to read, but it takes time and money to publish.

If you find what we do valuable, please help us continue with a small donation every so often. Even a dollar or three makes a difference.

In return, we'll keep providing you the most relevant, understandable, and accessible news and information.

It's secure and takes only about a minute.

Thanks!

Click here to contribute

Do we really need to have this discussion?

Date: 2018-Nov-03 Author: Barry Shatzman

I didn't believe it at first...

But yep... this dad really did dress his kids up as nazis for Halloween. I mean... what could be worse than that?

I'll tell you what's worse. Threatening them. Which apparently, some people did.

Now i get that you realize that's a bad thing. It might feel satisfying to leave German Shepherd poop in a paper bag by their stalag door, but you know it would accomplish nothing toward ending ignorance and racism.

Some do it anyway. All that does, however, is create an opening for others to post things on social media like this...

I'll pause here to let you scream something like "FALSE EQUIVALENCY! THAT DOESN'T COMPARE TO WHITE-NATIONALIST TERRORISTS WHO ACTUALLY SHOOT PEOPLE AND MAIL BOMBS TO THEM!"

You'd be right, of course. But so what? Those who post it - and those who agree with it - feel justified. Maybe it's because they've been given some weird spin on the reality of hate crimes. Or maybe... it's because people actually did those things.

All that's fine if you're only interested in convincing those who already agree with you. But if you wanna accomplish anything, what could be more effective than saying those things are fake? But you can't. Guess why.

But it's more than that. Refrain from sinking to the level you say you abhor, and you can focus the discussion on things like health care, voting rights, and education. But give in to temptation, and you're gonna waste time bickering about whose hate messages are more or less hateful.

Seriously... do you really wanna risk losing the moral high ground to these people?

Or to a guy who puts a Hitler mustache on his kid?